President's trip to Australia joined hearts, minds

Editor's note: China Daily is publishing a series of stories reviewing President Xi Jinping's visits home and abroad in the past decade, to showcase his vision for development in China and the world.

For many people in the Australian island state of Tasmania, the bond formed between Chinese President Xi Jinping and locals, especially students, in 2014 and even before has been an example of a wonderful meeting of hearts and minds.

Andy Muller, the principal of a primary school that Xi visited in 2014, said that it was an incredible moment in the students' lives.

Xi's trip to Tasmania was one of the highlights of his state visit to Australia between Nov 17 and 19 that year, after he attended a Group of 20 summit there.

Until then, Tasmania had sister-state ties with Fujian province, where Xi was once governor. In 2001, Xi awarded honorary Fujian citizenship posthumously to Jim Bacon, who had served as Tasmania's premier from 1998 to 2004 and who had been a regular visitor to Fujian since his early university days.

Before 2014, Tasmania had made several agreements with China on initiatives ranging from wind farms to agriculture.

On the day that Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, arrived in Hobart, the Tasmanian capital, a local newspaper carried an effusive front-page editorial, which ran under the headline "Welcome, Mr President" and ended: "We look forward to continuing a long and prosperous friendship. Enjoy."

However, the most memorable part of the visit to Tasmania was a meeting with the students of Scotch Oakburn College in the city of Launceston, who had traveled to Hobart for the occasion.

In May that year, a Chinese class at the school, whose students range in age from 3 to 12, had sent a letter, written in Chinese, to Xi and his wife via the Chinese embassy in Canberra, telling them about Tasmania's attractions.

Xi and his wife greeted these students warmly, with Xi telling them: "We should sow the seeds of the China-Australia friendship and make them take root, germinate and flourish." And he encouraged young Australians to continue to write to him.

"As part of a standard Chinese-language lesson in early 2014, a Year 5 class was tasked with writing, in Chinese, about their favorite places in Tasmania," said Muller, the principal.

"The students wanted the letters to go somewhere, and so the teacher suggested they address them to President Xi and send them to the Chinese embassy in Canberra, assuming that would be the end of the matter.

"The Chinese ambassador to Australia passed them on to the president's office and a response came, inviting them to meet him in November in Hobart, at Government House," Muller said. "It was an event they will never forget."

Today, it is compulsory for all students at the school, of which Muller is still principal, to learn about the Chinese language and culture.

"Meeting President Xi provided excitement among the students and another tangible link to the language and why it's important to learn about other cultures and languages," Muller said. "It resulted in many of the students taking a greater interest in the world beyond Australia, and especially China, and a broader outlook on life in general."

When Xi was in Australia, apart from visiting Hobart, Sydney and Brisbane－where the G20 summit was held－h(huán)e also visited the capital, Canberra, where he addressed a joint sitting of both houses of the Australian Parliament.

Xi concluded his speech by saying, "Let us join hands and work shoulder to shoulder to create a brighter future for the China-Australia comprehensive strategic partnership and to enhance peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific."

His speech was warmly received across the political spectrum in Australia, with then prime minister Tony Abbott pledging that "Australia is willing to join hands with China to jointly create a bright future of peaceful prosperity".

Among those who observed the proceedings that day was Colin Mackerras, emeritus professor at Griffith University and one of Australia's leading Sinologists, whose contribution to the bilateral friendship Xi cited in his speech.

"It was a great honor and pleasure for me to be present during President Xi Jinping's speech," Mackerras said. "He did me the honor of mentioning me by name, calling me a bridge of friendship between the Chinese and Australian peoples. This has always been an aspiration of mine, and I was delighted that he believed I had realized it. Later I had the great pleasure of meeting him, though only briefly. He was, and remains, a great inspiration to me."

In Sydney, Xi chatted with more locals. Jiang Changgeng, a Chinese-Australian photographer, felt honored to be asked to photograph Xi at an event on Nov 19, the last stop of Xi's stay in Australia that year.

To secure a good location for taking photographs, he arrived at the site three hours before the event, carrying three cameras.

"I (felt) so excited to be able to witness the visit by President Xi, and words cannot describe my feelings," he said. "It was a sacred job that I could not fail."

He felt he was able to contribute to China-Australia relations by capturing and documenting many of the memorable moments of the official exchanges between the two countries, he said.

Frank Chou, a Chinese diaspora community leader who has lived in Australia for several decades, said, "President Xi clearly delivered in his inspiring address in Sydney the message that he hopes that the relationship between China and Australia will continue to get better and strengthen."

Mackerras, the Sinologist, said, "I think China is indeed adhering to the path of common development, but I don't think other major countries are making things easier."

A lot has happened in the China-Australia relationship since then. For one thing, the international environment has changed greatly since Xi's visit in 2014, Mackerras said.

"The United States and many other Western countries have moved to regard China as a kind of enemy, their purpose being to maintain their own supremacy in the world.

"Australia has been quite deliberate about this, framing China as an enemy and a threat. It is neither of those things, and I regard it as a disgrace that virtually nobody in the political sphere challenges this narrative."

Mackerras said that while Xi has consistently talked about the shared future of humanity, trying to frame countries as equals and trying to get people to cooperate, some current officials "have resisted that at all times, preferring to compete, not to cooperate".

He added that what especially saddens him is the fact that some Australian politicians no longer regard China as a friend.

Referring to the possibility of things changing under the new Labor government, Mackerras said, "I'm not sure, but there's at least a chance of improvement."

He said he believes that China still hopes to have Australia as an important partner, and that Xiao Qian, who has been China's ambassador to Australia since January, "is doing a very good job".

"I look back on 2014 as a golden year, and things are much worse now," Mackerras said. "Labor will be better in its style and, I hope, in the content of its policy toward China.

"So I'm not holding my breath for a reset, but there's a good chance... and I'm optimistic."